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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27904687">Joy and Magic</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/soothe_the_beast/pseuds/soothe_the_beast'>soothe_the_beast</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Grief, Holidays, Immortal family, Traditions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:09:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,256</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27904687</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/soothe_the_beast/pseuds/soothe_the_beast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>With a push from an old friend, Andy suggests to Joe and Nicky the perfect gift to give Nile for her first Christmas with the immortal family, and of course they run with it!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache &amp; Booker | Sebastien &amp; Nile Freeman &amp; Joe | Yusef &amp; Nicky | Nicolò</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>101</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Joy and Magic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I know it’s very Christian centered to make this revolve around Christmas, but Nile is canonically Christian, and I can totally see all of them wanting to make sure she is coping okay this first Christmas without her family. </p><p>The holidays (particularly December holidays) can be a very difficult time for a lot of people, and I am very much one of those people. Writing this story was a little bit therapeutic for me. </p><p>That being said, happy holidays to everyone in this fandom whether you celebrate them this month or not. I love you all!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Two chords on the piano followed by the harmonic strokes of the strings, that was all it took. The opening notes of Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” resounding gently out of Nile’s phone were enough to swell her heart with nostalgia and yearning for her family. For as long as she could remember, the album played on repeat in her mother’s kitchen from Thanksgiving to the New Year. The memory nearly brought her to tears. </p><p>Luckily, there was enough about this new found family of hers to keep her mind in exasperated distraction from all she was missing. Not all the time, but enough of the time. They were certainly putting in a much appreciated effort to make her first Christmas Eve with them, and more significantly away from her family, as enjoyable as possible.</p><p>It wasn’t the first year she spent away from her mom and brother. Two separate tours in Afghanistan both straddled the holiday season, but even then she’d had the opportunity of talking to them through video chat, and the outright privilege it now was to even have hope of a reunion with them someday. This year was marred, understandably so, by the fact that she must not only maintain her silence from them, but that this silence must be forever. </p><p>Still... </p><p>She couldn’t help but smile watching Andy stringing popcorn and cranberries with a needle, occasionally stabbing herself in the fingers. Sewing; it was the kind of thing Nile was sure Andy had a lot more than zero experience with, but probably never had to be careful about until recently. </p><p>“Andy…” Nile said, placing her hands over Andy’s, turning them up to examine the damage. “Why don’t you let me do this.”</p><p>She held out the new box of Christmas ornaments they’d bought, balls of various sizes and colors. </p><p>“Just don’t stab yourself with the hooks,” she reminded gently.</p><p>“Life is just going to be an endless parade of things trying to stab me from here on out, isn’t it?” Andy said, taking the box. </p><p>“If it makes you feel better, I promise <em>I’ll</em> never try to stab you,” Nile said, adding after the accusing look Andy shot her “…<em>again</em>.” </p><p>Andy stood from the sofa and got to work with the ornaments. Nile lost herself, humming along to the song for a few minutes, stringing the pattern her father used to make; one popcorn kernel, one cranberry, two popcorn kernels, one cranberry, repeat. It was never something he had to teach her. But he made the same pattern every year so consistently that when Nile took over after he died, she fell right into it. She wondered if Malik would take the mantle this year.</p><p>The song changed, “Deck the Halls” next, and when Nile looked up at Andy’s progress, she noticed one side of the tree looking incredibly bare, the other increasingly decked. </p><p>“Andy…” Nile sighed, coming to stand at her side. “You can’t just… you gotta spread the ornaments out so the whole tree is decorated.”</p><p>She took a few ornaments from Andy’s little corner and fanned them out to the rest of the tree. </p><p>“Have you seriously never done this?” Nile asked. </p><p>“We don’t always have the luxury of staying put long enough for stuff like this. We had a tree a few times after the Second World War,” Andy explained. “But I wasn’t in charge of decorations. That’s more Nicky’s area.” </p><p>Nile had told the others they didn’t need to go crazy on her account, especially knowing that Andy and Joe weren’t Christians anyway. But Nicky had explained how the lines between “Christian traditions” and Pagan traditions had been blurred so much (appropriated more accurately), and over the years had become more secular, the other immortals never really minded taking part in some of them. Joe was always happy to celebrate anything. Andy was always happy to have an excuse to sip libations. For many years, they kept most family-centered celebrations subdued because they hit Booker so hard. Nile thought she could relate.  </p><p>But coming from all over the world, and all different points in history, the immortal family was always open to adopting different traditions in whatever way worked for one, or all of them. <em>It would be nice</em>, Nicky explained, <em>to have a tree this year</em>. </p><p>“Where are they, anyway?” Nile asked, glancing back into the quiet kitchen where the two men had disappeared to make cookies. </p><p>“Book used to say it was only ever a good idea to wonder where one of them was” Andy smiled, putting another ornament in her crowded corner. “If you had to wonder where they both were, you’d better stop wondering fast.”</p><p>Nile chuckled lightly, but still stepped closer to the kitchen of their dusty New Orleans safe house, peeking her head in. She spotted them in the corner by the breakfast table, huddled, conspiratorially debating in whispers something seemingly extremely important. Joe held a smart phone clutched to his chest. Nicky was attempting to pry it away from him. </p><p>“Hey,” Nile said, breaking up the scheme. “What are you two up to in here? I thought you were supposed to be making cookies.” </p><p>“We were,” Nicky said. </p><p>“We are,” Joe insisted. </p><p>The two of them stared innocently at her for an extended moment, while she stared back. </p><p>“Why y’all being weird?”</p><p>“We are not being weird,” Nicky argued unconvincingly. </p><p>“...A’ight,” Nile said. “Well just remember no one likes burnt cookies.”</p><p>“Oh, that is not true,” Nicky replied in testimony. “My Joe loves them.” </p><p>Joe looked slightly sheepish.</p><p>“Booker too though,” he reminded Nicky.   </p><p>Nile turned back to the den where Andy was getting into God knew what kind of trouble.</p><p>Nicky gave Joe a meaningful look and made his argument once more. </p><p>“Tonight, Joe,” he said. “We should not wait until morning.”</p><p>“I thought Christmas morning was when you give the gifts,” Joe contested.</p><p>“Christmas morning is all about the joy,” Nicky agreed. “But Christmas Eve is about joy <em>and</em> magic. I want to give her both.” </p><p>“…Alright,” Joe couldn’t help but smile at that sentiment. Nine hundred years old and still believes in magic, that was his Nicolò. He handed the phone back to his love. “You’ve convinced me.” </p><p>They followed Nile’s path back to the living room to find her exasperatedly replacing all of Andy’s ornaments to a more aesthetic configuration on the tree. Andy had returned to her seat on the couch and was happily sipping on a cup of the egg nog Nile had made, the one holiday tradition she thought she could really get behind. </p><p>“Nile, could you help me with something?” Nicky asked, holding his phone in two hands. </p><p>“Sure,” she said, turning to him. “What is it?”</p><p>“I rented a movie for us to watch,” he explained. </p><p>“You… rented a movie?” Nile asked suspiciously. </p><p>Nicky looked to Joe, who had taken a seat beside Andy on the sofa. He grinned and shook his head. </p><p>“Yes,” Nicky continued, “but I can’t figure out how to cast it onto the TV. Booker used to…”</p><p>“Yeah, let me see.” Nile held her hand out, and Nicky handed her the phone. </p><p>The smart phone was opened to Nicky’s photo albums, specifically his videos, where only one thumbnail displayed the blurry faces of Joe and Nicky.  </p><p>“You’re sure you want me to cast this onto the TV… out here?” Nile asked. </p><p>“Yes, I thought we could all watch it together…” Nicky suggested innocently. “Why?”</p><p>“She thinks you’re going to play a sex tape, <em>Tato</em>.” Joe explained to Nicky.</p><p>Nicky looked from Joe to Nile.</p><p>“Nile…” he said, scandalized. “It is not a <em>sex tape.</em>”</p><p>“Well there’s no tape here,” Nile explained patiently to both of them. “It’s a digital video… and it’s clearly of you two and not a movie.”</p><p>“You guys are so smooth,” Andy teased. </p><p>“Nile, we have something we’d like to show you, and Nicky being Nicky is making it weirder than it needs to be,” Joe summed up for the room. </p><p>“Oh,” Nile said, nodding, because sure that made sense. “Yeah, ok.”</p><p>Nicky took a seat on the other side of Joe while Nile worked to cast the recording onto the TV. As she took a seat in the lounge chair by the couch, the screen lit up with the images of Joe and Nicky staring back out at them. </p><p>“Ok, I think it’s started,” Joe was saying. </p><p>“Is it recording?” Nicky asked. </p><p>“Yes, I think so,” Joe tilted his head forward and pointed at something below the screen. “And we should be able to see… ah, there she is!”</p><p>A woman in her early fifties popped up on the screen in her own frame beside Joe and Nicky. She wore a bright red and sparkling sweater under an old apron adorned with images of poinsettias. Her thick caramel braids cascaded across the glasses over her dark brown eyes.</p><p>“There they are…” the woman exclaimed delightedly. “I knew there were handsome smiles under those masks.”</p><p>Nile sat frozen in the chair. Her mouth hung open at the sight of the woman, her eyes glistening with tears. </p><p>“Hi, Mrs. Freeman,” on screen Nicky said waving at all of them. </p><p>“Oh, Nicky, babe, I think you’re muted,” Nile’s mother said gently. </p><p>“It’s muted, <em>Habibi</em>,” Joe echoed her, frowning downward.</p><p>“How do you…”</p><p>“Here,” Joe said. “Can you hear us now, Mrs. Freeman?”</p><p>“Yes!” She grinned. “Oh, it’s so nice to see you boys again.”</p><p>Nile shot a glance at Joe and Nicky. <em>Again? When did they see her mother? When did they go to Chicago? </em></p><p>“It’s nice to see you too, Mrs. Freeman,” Nicky said. “Thank you again for agreeing to appear in our film.”</p><p>“Oh, you call me Nessie, please, and it’s my pleasure,” she responded graciously. “I’m happy to keep my daughter’s legacy alive.”</p><p>“Who is it, Mama?” A young man’s voice sounded from somewhere off screen and in the next second, Nile’s brother appeared behind his mother, looking into the camera. Nile’s eyes couldn’t contain her tears any longer. </p><p>“It’s the two nice men I met at the hardware store last week,” Nessie told her son. <em>Last week when they were supposed to be in Tulsa? </em></p><p>“They’re documentary film students,” Nile’s mother continued, “working on a film about the Marines and asked if I would do a zoom interview. This is my son, Malik.”</p><p>“Hi,” he waved at the camera.</p><p>“Hi Malik,” Nicky said. Joe waved back. </p><p>“So tell me what you boys wanted to ask,” Nessie said to them. </p><p>“Well, the film is really about family more than anything,” Nicky explained. “We both know first hand what it’s like to lose a loved one to… conflict.”</p><p>“Mmm,” Nile’s mother closed her eyes and nodded deeply. </p><p>“We know it isn’t easy,” Joe contested.</p><p>On the sofa, Joe took Andy’s hand and put his other arm around Nicky’s shoulders. The three of them watched Nile, who’s eyes were glued to the TV screen. </p><p>“No…” Nile’s mother agreed, “but you know, I’m proud of my girl. She made a decision to try to put the needs of others before her own. Just like her Daddy. Some people don’t need an entire lifetime to make a real difference in this world.”</p><p>Nile wrapped her arms across her torso as if to hug herself. A hand was resting on her shoulder and when she looked, she saw Andy sitting on the arm of her chair, giving her a gentle smile. </p><p>“But can you imagine all she might have done with it?” Nile’s mother said quietly, after a beat. </p><p>“Can you tell us about her?” The Nicky on screen asked. </p><p>“Oh… Nile.” Nessie sighed. “My Nile. She had a golden heart of a lion and a smile that could light up a room. Came into the world that way, just beaming at everyone. The nurses in the hospital were all smitten. The doctor’s were amazed. Her eyes just had that twinkle, you know?”</p><p>“That story never changed,” Nile said to the room, “not once in my whole life.” </p><p>“I can imagine,” on screen Joe smiled wistfully into the camera. </p><p>“And oooh, did she love her friends and her family,” Nessie continued. “I’m talking fierce, fierce love. Fierce loyalty. What she wouldn’t have done for her baby brother.”</p><p>“You should tell them about the hornets,” said Malik, who was now sitting beside his mother. </p><p>“Hm hmm,” Nile’s mother chuckled prudently.    </p><p>“Oh God…” Nile said, burying her face in her hands. </p><p>“She always hated this story, but I’m gonna tell it anyway.”</p><p>“Mama!” Nile pleaded with the woman on the TV. Behind her, Joe was giggling lightly. She didn’t know what she was so worried about. He and Nicky had clearly already heard the story. </p><p>“Malik was about four or five,” Nile’s mother explained, “so Nile had to be… thirteen maybe. She took him for a walk in Marquette Park. Malik found a hornet’s nest on the ground, and having no idea what it was, he started poking it with a stick. Well, Nile saw the hornets coming out and she just grabbed the thing and started running with it. I think we counted twenty two stings. She had to go to the hospital for a cortisone shot.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t need it now, would I?” Nile said, almost triumphantly. </p><p>“The things she did to herself for the people she loved.”</p><p>Andy’s hand travelled away from Nile’s shoulder and found it’s way into Nile’s own. </p><p>“We don’t want to keep you from your Christmas celebration too much longer, Mrs… Nessie,” on screen Joe said to Nile’s mother. “But we wondered if we could ask you just one more question.”</p><p>Nile’s mother quirked a flour covered eyebrow. </p><p>“If you could talk to Nile right now, if she could somehow hear it, what would you want her to know?”</p><p>There was silence for a few minutes while Nile’s mother considered this question carefully. She put her hand on her son’s knee. </p><p>“Well… I talk to my Nile all the time in my prayers, and I know she can hear me. But… like I tell her every night, I would want her to know how proud I am of her, and… just how loved she is. Just so very, very loved. And so very, very missed.”</p><p>Nile had gone still again. Andy squeezed her hand. Nile squeezed back. </p><p>“And… because I know she’d worry…” Nessie continued, gently dabbing at a tear in her eye, “I’d want her to know that we doing ok. Ain’t we?”</p><p>She looked at Malik who’s face conveyed sadness, but who’s eyes were resolute. He nodded.</p><p>“You know…” Nile’s mother explained simply, “We got a hole in our hearts where her presence used to be… but now it’s filled with her spirit. It’s just a different way of being together. That’s all.”</p><p>The Joe and Nicky on screen both smiled lightly. The Joe and Nicky on the couch had their eyes on Nile. Nile breathed deeply and slowly, watching the screen, clutching her cross with her free hand.</p><p>“Thank you, Nessie,” on screen Joe was saying. </p><p>“Thank you, boys,” Nile’s mother said sincerely. “It’s always healing to talk about my Nile.”</p><p>“We won’t take up any more of your time,” Nicky said. </p><p>“Are you sure you got enough?” Nessie asked curiously. “We didn’t really talk about her time in the Marines.”</p><p>“There would probably never be enough,” Joe admitted wisely, “but we got what we needed.”</p><p>“Alright…” Nessie said warily. “Well, you boys keep in touch now, and let me know how you do.”</p><p>“Yes, Ma’am,” Joe nodded.</p><p>“Happy Holidays to you both.”</p><p>“And to you,” Nicky said. </p><p>The screen went black. The room was quiet and still for a long extended moment. Nile brought her hand to her eye to wipe away a stray tear. </p><p>“…She thinks your movie’s gonna suck,” she finally said. </p><p>Joe smiled at that. Andy wiped away a tear of her own.</p><p>“What did <em>you</em> think of it?” Nicky asked. </p><p>“Yeah…” Nile nodded and turned to the two of them. “Best movie I’ve seen all year.”</p><p>“It was Andy’s idea,” Nicky said graciously. </p><p>“Not really,” Andy said. </p><p>“We might have planned the trip, boss,” Joe said, “but you put the idea in our heads.”</p><p>“Only because Booker put it in mine,” Andy admitted. She sighed, looking at Joe. </p><p>“What?” Nicky asked, speaking for both of them, as Joe had gone dumb with shock. “When?”</p><p>“He wrote to me, a few weeks ago.” She stood and pulled a book off the shelf, revealing an envelop from inside. She handed it to Nicky. The two men read it silently together before handing it to Nile. She could almost hear Booker’s voice reverberating off the page.</p><p>
  <em>Hey Boss,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I know this is probably breaking the rules of my exile. You don’t have to respond to me. I don’t expect you to. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’ve just been thinking a lot about Nile lately. She’s a good kid. A tough kid. But I can’t stop thinking about the last thing she said to me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We’ve all got people in this world that we’re never going to stop thinking about. But hers are still out there. With the holidays coming up, it’s going to be an extra hard time for her. Trust me. I know it would be complicated, but if there’s a way she could see them again, hear them again… It might be enough to keep her soul from withering away like mine did. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Anyway…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>SL</em>
</p><p>Nile was moved to silence. By all of them and their big, sappy hearts.</p><p>Yes. He was absolutely right. Special days without her family were going to hard, and they always would be, especially while they still walked the earth. But they were made just a little bit easier with this stupid, dumb family she’d found. These two soft-hearted warriors who would create a terrible elaborate lie to get a recording of her mother gushing over her memory. The ancient warrior who had gained and lost so much over and over through the centuries, who somehow still believed in the power of love. And Booker…</p><p>Even if he wasn’t really here. He’d been here all night, the same way Nile was there with her family. </p><p>“Thank you,” she finally said quietly, and looked up from the letter to all of them. “It means the world to me.” </p><p>“You’re very welcome, Nile.” Joe had crossed the short distance between the couch and the chair and pulled her up into a bear hug. Nicky had followed closely after and was hugging her from behind, pulling Andy in as well.</p><p>“Happy Holidays, fam,” Nile’s voice was muffled against Joe’s shoulder. </p><p>“<em>Buon Natale</em>, Nile.” Nicky responded, squeezing them all a little tighter. </p><p><br/>
***</p><p>It was hours later. Andy was passed out in the chair, a little bit sloshed on egg nog. Joe and Nicky were curled together on the couch. Nile sat at the foot of the Christmas tree, gazing up at the lights, smiling to herself at the clump of ornaments on one side. She was going to be alright. She had two families now. One she could hold in her arms and make new memories with, one she could hold close in her heart. </p><p>She took her phone out and pressed the home button. The clock read 12:03. It was Christmas. She pulled open her contacts and started typing out a text. </p><p>“Merry Christmas, Buddy” she wrote. </p><p>A few seconds passed before the three dots of oncoming response appeared.</p><p>“Merry Christmas, Kid,” Booker wrote back.  </p><p> </p>
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